Discussion Guide – Innovative Learning
1. Should preparation for bar/bat mitzvah shape the agenda of Jewish education?
2. How might Jewish education change when it focuses on the learners, rather than on the providers?
3. What role might technology play in Jewish education — and what must educators be wary of in bringing technology into the learning environment?
4. Should Jewish educators focus more on helping people discover how Judaism is meaningful than on teaching knowledge and skills? What would the shift imply?
5. How do you make Jewish learning a lifelong pursuit?
Discussion Guide – The Many Faces of Translation
1. What is the relationship of translation to transmutation? To interpretation?
2. What role does listening play in the art of translation?
3. Translation allows for more people to access sacred texts and engage in Jewish learning. Does something get lost in the process? If so, what?
4. How is knowledge mediated by rabbis and scholars?
5. How does translation impact the global nature of Jewish life?
Discussion Guide – Counting Jews and Jews Counting
1. Why are there two commandments to take a census in the Torah?
2. Do you count your “days” forward or backward? Do you look more often to future days or do you reminisce about your personal history?
3. Is counting counterproductive? Is it helpful, or not, to use communal resources to know our numbers?
Discussion Guide – Rosh Hashanah Liturgy
1. Might contemporary changes in communal and denominational commitments forecast the dissolution — or at least the diminution — of rabbinic authority?
2. In an American Jewish setting marked by freedom and openness, where traditional modes of authority are constantly and rightfully called into question, how do we inspire our people so that they feel an obligation to live within the powerful Jewish dialectics of universalism and particularism, spirituality and corporeality?
3. One of the names for Rosh Hashanah is Yom HaZikaron, the Day of Memory. What is the relationship between memory and teshuvah?
4. The liturgy for Rosh Hashanah speaks at times in the plural: “We have sinned.” What do you think about collective guilt and repentance?
Discussion Guide – Rethinking Jewish Weddings
1. Why do Jewish couples continue to perpetuate a wedding ritual of acquisition that is out of alignment with their Jewish and philosophical thinking?
2. What features of a Jewish wedding ceremony might be adapted to more closely reflect contemporary liberal practices?
3. If the Orthodox rabbinate in Israel were to relinquish control over personal status issues, what would be the implications for marriage and divorce?
Discussion Guide – A Wider Diaspora
1. To what extent are American Jews — like Americans in general — disengaging from foreign affairs, from anything beyond their borders, from anything conducted in another language, and how does this phenomenon impact the relationship of American Jews with Israel?
2. How have globalization and the porousness of borders changed Jewish life around the world?
3. What role do disappointment, frustration, and a sense of exclusion play in innovation? And how can such sentiments be channeled creatively to build more entrepreneurial and engaging community options?
Discussion Guide – American Jewish Loyalties
Why is it so difficult to talk about Israel? And how can we promote more civil and engaged discussion?
At a moment when the Jewish community is pushing the concept of peoplehood — which aims to pitch a broad, wide tent for Jews — are we also creating certain barriers for [...]
Discussion Guide – Stories & the Jewish Narrative
For you, what is the greatest Jewish story?
What role has the Exodus story played in our development as a people?
Why does telling a story help the process of healing?
How might you tell the Pesach story differently this year?
Discussion Guide – Do-it Yourself Judaism
What is the relationship between the draw of DIY and a contemporary yearning for community?
How might organizations — like JCCs, synagogues, schools — build on DIY innovation and passion?
What core values inform the DIY movement?
Discussion Guide – Tzimtzum
What role might tzimtzum play in your synagogue infrastructure?
What is the relationship of tzimtzum to the creation of the world and the existence of evil?
In a “contracted” state, what are the core values and essential mandates of the Jewish federation system?
